By Vidyaratha Kissoon
Vidyaratha Kissoon is a Guyanese who hopes that Diwali 2014 would inspire people to remember the divine light is in every being without discrimination. He believes that men do not have to beat, slap, rape, control, harass or otherwise abuse women to prove that they are men.
Tears came to Clive’s eyes as he talked about the girl who had told him about her father’s abusive behaviour. The girl had asked him why he was wearing the purple corsage. He told her about the domestic violence forum which he had just attended. Clive did not expect her story of surviving her father’s violent behaviour.
The forum was organised by the Institute for Women, Gender and Development Studies (IWGDS) at Anton de Kom University of Suriname (ADK) as part of their activities for International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women in November 2013.
The forum was organised to raise awareness about domestic violence and other forms of gender based violence. The panel consisted of a judge, a member of the NGO community, and other community experts in Suriname who work against domestic violence and other forms of gender based violence.
Dhiraj is another law student who attended the domestic violence discussion. He had never experienced domestic violence first hand. Like other students, he knew of the problem but did not realise the extent of the problem. After the forum, he realised that one of his relatives was very abusive. Dhiraj confronted his relative and talked to him about his drinking and behaviour towards his family. He said he tried to talk in a nice calm way, and talk about the effect on the children. Dhiraj felt that his relative changed his behaviour after the conversation – especially the drinking. Dhiraj did not realise that very few men challenge other men’s abusive behaviour. He knows at an individual level that men who are concerned should speak out against abusive behaviour.
In July 2014, York University in Canada hosted a workshop “Rethinking Women’s and Gender Studies Transnationally: A Caribbean-Canadian Dialogue” and invited participants from Guyana and Suriname. The aim of the workshop was to “examine histories, pedagogies and research in women’s and gender studies in order to improve programmes, policy and action for gender equality” York University, the Anton de Kom University of Suriname, and the University of Guyana have been engaging in faculty and student exchange. The participants, who included academics and community advocates for gender justice, discussed the connection between the academy and the community among other things.
The Women’s Studies Unit (WSU) at the University of Guyana was formed in the late 1980s and evolved from a Women’s Studies Group. The WSU was grounded in working with the community, and used events like IDAVAW to raise awareness on the UG campus. The work against Domestic violence and other forms of gender-based violence in Guyana is actively pursued by NGOs like Help & Shelter and Red Thread. The research on Domestic Violence published by Basant Shiw Parsad and Ken Danns from UG in 1988/1989 is still referenced. In Suriname and Guyana, the work of the NGOs is not enough. The Universities have become places not only for teaching and research, but also contributors to the cultural shifts which are necessary to build societies with gender equality. The IWGDS at Anton de Kom University is represented on some of the Surinamese Government task forces on gender equality.
The team from Guyana included a representative from the Women and Gender Equality Commission. The Commission is interested in working with the University of Guyana to stimulate research and other activities that could influence policy making and to support the idea of a Centre for Gender Studies.
Some of the students who attended the IWGDS forum in Suriname on domestic violence felt a need to contribute to the work. They volunteered to become Ambassadors in the work against domestic violence. Kavish is one of the volunteers. He said he was stunned by the statistics and the stories he had heard at the panel. He felt that he needed to do something more in and out of the ADK University community. He believes that some celebrities like popular Indian film actor Amitabh Bachchan should be encouraged to support the public education campaigns.
Bachchan had included the Red Brigade Team in his show Kaun Banega Crorepati. The Red Brigade is a group of women who are vigilant against violence in Lucknow, India. Kavish feels that this kind of celebrity support would help to break the silence in sections of the Hindustani community in Suriname.
The silence around domestic violence in some sections of the community is a cause of concern in Suriname, as it is in Guyana. Andro is another volunteer who believes that the Ambassadors should help to break that silence by talking publicly and in private with students and other friends. Clive proposed an event in Nickerie (close to the border with Guyana and with many persons of Guyanese origin) in which the students could talk to the community about domestic violence and what could be done to stop it. Kavish hopes that his father, a pastor whose congregation consists of descendants of the Maroons would talk about domestic violence.
Students at both Universities do work on gender and sexualities for some of their assignments. The University of Guyana Social Work students do community education programmes as part of their course work assessment.
The IWGDS and WSU both are organising to do research and to develop and offer courses to the students and to the community. The experience with Clive, Andro, Kavish and Dhiraj and the other Ambassadors has shown that the University can inspire students to change the culture which nurtures gender inequality which in turn fuels all forms of gender based violence. The University can do so not only through course work, but in promoting the students’ social responsibility to their communities.
